Instrumental Dark Passion Play

So i've been listening a lot to the instrumental version of Dark Passion Play lately and i find it great.Not that i don't like Anette's or Marco's vocals but sometimes it's nice to listen to the instrumental versions just for a change!You can focus more on the instruments,orchestra and choir which is not that easy sometimes when you are listening to the normal versions with the vocals.My favourite instrumentals songs are pobably "Sahara", "7 Days To The Wolves,Amaranth and Meadows of Heaven!

I love the idea of the second instrumental bonus disc.Tuomas said that there is probably going to be one for Imaginarium as well so we are going to be able to listen to the instrumental version of Imaginarium too!

Interview with Tuomas and Marco

Genelec studios released a new video interview filmed while the guys were recording at Petrax studios in Finland (in which the keyboards and Marco's vocals were recorded in March).

Here is the official description from Genelec studios:

Originating from Eastern Finland like the world famous Genelec studio monitors, Nightwish is one of the most popular rock bands in the world with 6 albums selling millions of copies all over the globe. This video is filmed during the recording session of the upcoming Imaginarium album (and movie!) when the band was at Petrax studios in Finland, naturally with a set of Genelec DSP active loudspeakers on the mixing console. In the interview Tuomas Holopainen and Marco Hietala talk about composing, studio work and recording sessions in multiple locations - what works for them. Behind the desk the world renowned mixing engineer Mikko Karmila takes care that everything is stored according to the highest standards. Enjoy!

Interview with Anette

A new interview with Anette was published in the online rockmetal magazine.
You can read it here

I personally find it quite interesting, although there aren't a lot of things that we didn't already know.

Horizon Swarming With Death!

So this is the first post in which i'll give my opinion on a song (more will follow)!
I wanted to start with Sahara because...actually i don't know why it just popped in my head!
Sahara is one of my favourite songs from Dark Passion Play(maybe my second favourite after The Poet And Tha Pendulum).

First of all, i love it's intro!The keyboards works really well on that song.After that comes an awesome part with all the guys giving their best combined with an awesome orchestra!The live version of it almost always features Anette's famous "Hep Hep" which makes the crowd go crazy."A ballad of dark queen..."sings Anette and the band accompany her in a great way!I love the "horizon swarming with death"part (hence the post title) and the choir in general in this song.I love the chorus lyricwise!I also like Anette's backing vocals near the end!Finally, Emppu does a great work with the guitars on that song!
I just hope that they plan to play this song in the Imaginarium tour so that i'll be able to listen to it live and travel to "Sahara"!

Me and Nightwish!

So, i think it's time i tell you about my history with Nightwish.How i found out about them, how they came to be my favourite band!

The first time i heard the name Nightwish it was when i saw a cd my brother had recently bought called "Once" which had an awesome cover.It was summer at the time (2005 i think).Just out of curiosity i checked the tracklist on the backside and i came across a song titled "Nemo".I found it strange since at the time i was around 10 or 11 and the only "Nemo" i knew was the fish so i thought that there was a relation between the two.After about 5-6 months(if i remember correctly) i listened to my first Nightwish song: "Wish I Had An Angel" which i didn't like at first mostly because i found Marco's vocals kind of creepy.But at the same time i started kind-of- listening to Within Temptation(and i was also kind-of-listening to Evanescence at the time).
Then late 2006-early 2007 my brother had to travel so i borrowed him my ipod(since his had broken).He imported the "End Of An Era" into it (and maybe "Once").After that in the summer of 2007 i listened to the intro of "Nemo" on a greek commercial about ships and fell in love with it!Since i already had it on my ipod i listened to it like a thousand times!And then listened to "End Of An Era" and liked some songs, mostly "Bless The Child"After that i imported the discography of Nightwish (which my brother had)on my ipod.The first album i lestened to was the compilation "Highest Hopes" and found the songs "The Kinslayer", "Stargazers" and "Over Tthe Hills and Far Away" quite interesting!
"Wishmaster" was the next song i fell in love with!
Then in September came the album with the new singer (which as i already said on the Anette post sometimes didn't even knew which singer was singing)"Dark Passion Play".In the beginning i only liked "Bye Bye Beautiful", "Eva", and "Amaranth" and after sometime "The Islander" and "For The Heart I Once Had".

In March Nightwish visited Greece but of course then i wouldn't travel to a different city to see them live since i wasn't that big a fan  and neither did my brother but for different reasons.In the end of March me and my family traveled to London and Nightwish were having a gig there, my brother couldn't believe his luck!I couldn't go since i was only 13 and the club had an age restriction so that only people of age 14 or older could go(i only had 2 months left too become 14) so i was a little sad but not that much since as i already said i wasn't really a fan back then.My brother booked his ticket but unfortunately the website he bought it from sold him a regural ticket for the prize of a -front-row-one.My brother was really angry and decided not to go to the gig upset as he was.
Then in the Summer i fell in love with "The Poet And The Pendulum" and i still am.I think it's a masterpiece and Tuomas' Magnum Opus!

But anyway,after that it was Summer 2009 when i really started loving Nighwish!I watched the "End Of An Era" Dvd and the concert in Lowlands from 2008 in youtube and loved it! "Dark Chest Of Wonders","Romanticide", "Sahara", "Ghost Love Score","The Siren" and "Ever Dream" are some of the songs i started listening to back then!I knew then that Nightwish was and would be for a long time my favourite band!After that i started listening to most of their songs and by the Summer of 2010(when i also read "Once Upon A Nightwish")i would listen to almost any Nightwish song!Of course there are still some which i wouldn't listen to easily but only when in the mood and some that i haven't listened to that much(mostly some bonus tracks).
I really want to meet the band sometime and i hope that when they visit Greece there will be some kind of Meet & Greet where you will be able to talk with the band in person!
I can't wait for the album and i hope that it will be a Masterpiece like the previous ones!

Imaginarium

It was last summer when we found out that Nightwish (except from Anette who was pregnant at the time)had gathered to record the demo of the long awaited 7th studio album.In September,not long after Tuomas was joined by Anette(who had already given birth to to her second son Nemo)the demo was finished!
 It was Thursday the 14th of October when Nightwish officially entered the studio and started recording the album beginning with the drums.After a few days when Jukka had recorded his part, it was time for Emppu to start recording the guitars.In the meantime Marco also recorded most of his bass parts.
On December 21st Tuomas wrote on the site wishing everyone happy holidays and also stating that they plan to reveal future plans in the end of January 2011.Despite that statement on the 1st of February Tuomas said that the "mobsters" are not letting him reveal any plans yet.
 And then BAM!Out of nowhere when no oone expected it and only 9 days after the above statement a new post came where it revealed the plans for the new album!

                                                               IMAGINARIUM

The 7th studio album is called Imaginarium and a movie will be accompanying it!

The movie,as described on Nightwish.com, is about a  songwriter with an otherworldly imagination. He is an old man who still thinks he`s a young boy. While asleep he travels into his distant past where his dreams of old come back to him mixed to the young boy`s world of fantasy and music.

In his dreams the old man fights to find the memories most important to him.

The director of the film is Stobe Harju who has already worked with Nightwish for the music video of "The Islander".

The full-lenth movie will be produced by Solar films Inc. together with Nightwish.The shootings of the film were set to begin in the Spring with the release set for the Spring of 2012. 

Then on the 14th of February Tuomas traveled to London where the Orchestra and choir would be recorded in the Angel studio.By the end of the week when all of those parts were recorded Tuomas wrote a studio diary about it,providing photos and a video,which you can find on Nightwish.com

Then in the beginning of March it was time for Anette to record her vocals.Unfortunatelly after a fall she broke her rib and decided together with Tuomas that it would be better to postpone the recordings for a while.Tuomas however decided to record the keyboards for the album while Marco recorded his vocals. After that it was time for Mr. Troy Donockley to make his contribution to the album,and for some additional violins,percussions and tribal drums to be recorded.In the beginning of April when a month had already passed since Anette's accident, she traveled to Finland to record her vocals and after about a week in Finnvox studios the recordings for Imaginarium had all been done!

The mixing and mastering for the album is supposed to be over by the end of July and in the beginning of the fall the band members are going to shoot their cameo parts for the movie.

A single is expected to be released around the end of Fall, followed by the album in the beginning of January 2012!

The Imaginarium World tour is set to begin in the 21st of January in Los Angeles and it will be the only appearance of the band in the U.S.A till late 2012.

Personally, i can't wait for this album to be released!I think it will be better than Dark Passion Play mostly because it will be written exclusively for Anette's voice.I can't wait to listen to the almost-20-minutes-song. We also know that there are going to be two songs on Imaginarium which will have no orchestra at all.Despite  loving the orchestra on Nightwish albums, i find the idea interesting and long to listen to them.Furthermore i can't wait to listen to the single and hope it won't be late in the fall where we will be able to listen to it!

The best thing for me is that Tuomas recently gave an interview to a greek(yes i'm from Greece) website and stated that he can't wait to see us (Greeks)next year!I haven't seen Nightwish live yet and i can't wait to see the world Greece in the concert schedule!(I just hope it's not on a crappy festival like last time they were in Greece since i heard that the organization was awful!) :-)

More Information about the Imaginarium album and movie can be found on the links below:

Interview with Solar Films producer Markus Selin

Interview with Tuomas

Interview with Stobe Harju(Director of the Imaginarium)

Anette!

I think that my first official post should be about Anette Olzon the singer of Nightwish.
When i first started listening to Nightwish it was the summer of 2007 right before Dark Passion Play was  released.I knew Nightwish before since my brother used to listen to them a lot, but i had never listened to them.So when i found out that this album was the first to feauture the new singer  i didn't really feel sad or anxious or anything.By the time i was only listening to around 6 or maybe 7 NW songs so i didn't feel anything about the new album not feautring Tarja.When i first listened to songs from DPPi liked some of them like  Bye Bye Beautiful,Amaranth,For The Heart I Once Had,Eva and The Islander but i never said WOW i love NW and  stuff like that till later on(I'll explain about that in later posts).I know this might seem weird but sometimes i didnt' even know if it was Anette or Tarja singing.
For a year or so i used to listen to NW but they were like a band which you listen to some of their songs but never really pay a lot of attention to them.
Then it was Summer 2009 when my love for Nightwish began to grow!I watched the End Of An Era DVD and listened to the whole Once album(something  i think i had never done before) and the DPP one.I watched a whole concert from youtube(the 2008 one in Lowlands)and loved that too.I liked Anette's interpretations of the "Tarja Era" songs and even downloaded some which i listened to all the time on my ipod.And then after some months i started loving Anette being in The band and i still do!
I hate when someone comments on her in rude ways.I've read a lot of rude comments and i can't believe that people are(even now after 4 years from her addition to the banf)insulting her like she is the one to blame for Tarja's firing from Nightwish.I like the fact that her voice is not operatic like Tarja's,not because i don't like these kind of voices (which i love) but because her voice brings something new to the band and as Tuomas said if they hired a singer with a similar voice to Tarja it would be like trying to copy her.I don't want to say that i like Anette more than Tarja or Tarja more than Anette,i just want to say that i like Nightwish.Of course anyone have their own opinion and may like or dislike one of the singers but they shouldn't be rude to one of them just because they prefer the other.I really like a lot of "old Era" songs interpretations from Anette especially the ballads in which i think she gives more feeling!I really like her voice and i can't wait to listen to her voice on the new album!
I think she is an excellent addition to the band and can't wait to listen to more songs from her and see her(and all the band of course)live in the next tour!
I know you may find reading this boring but i just wanted to dedicate the first post to her!

Welcome!

Hi!
My Name is Nikos and i decided to create this blog so i can write about Nightwish!I plan to post news,My personal opinions about songs and lyrics and any Nightwish experiences i had(for instance how i found out about Nightwish and stuff like that).You are welcome to visit my blog and read about Nightwish!